Criminal Cases in the Dimmit County Courts
Dimmit County divides criminal court cases by charge level. The 293rd and 365th Judicial District Courts hear felony matters, and District Clerk Maricela G. Gonzalez keeps those files in Suite 202 of the County Courthouse Annex. The constitutional Dimmit County Court hears county criminal matters, including Class A and Class B misdemeanors, whose files remain with County Clerk Claudia McDaniel. Fine-only cases and related bench warrants stay with the justice or municipal court that handled them. That split makes the charge level and issuing court more useful than a broad request for every record bearing one name.
The two district judges serve Dimmit, Maverick, and Zavala Counties from offices in Eagle Pass. Their location does not move Dimmit County court files out of Carrizo Springs. The official 293rd District Court page shows one branch of that tri-county structure.
The page helps identify the court, but the Dimmit County District Clerk remains the records custodian for a local felony cause.
Two Dimmit County Felony Courts
A felony cause may be assigned to the 293rd or the 365th District Court. The court number and full cause number should travel with every request because the same defendant name can occur on more than one docket. Ask the clerk which district owns the cause before reading calendars or contacting court staff. A hearing setting is only a planned event. It is not a plea, judgment, dismissal, or sentence.
The Dimmit County page for the 365th District Court lists the judge and criminal court coordinator.
Use that court contact for scheduling context, while copy and docket requests still go to the elected District Clerk in Carrizo Springs.
Note: An Eagle Pass judicial office is not the filing counter for a Dimmit County criminal case record.
How to Search Case Records
Dimmit County does not advertise a stand-alone public criminal case portal. Start with the clerk that matches the charge, then use re:SearchTX as a second view for electronic records that a court makes available. The state platform is not a guaranteed complete criminal index. Older paper files, recent filings, restricted documents, and records outside its access rules may be absent.
- Classify the case as felony, Class A or B misdemeanor, or fine-only, then select the District Clerk, County Clerk, JP, or municipal court.
- Give the clerk the full name, approximate filing year, date of birth if accepted, and cause number when known.
- Ask for the court, charge, filing date, status, disposition, and docket sheet before choosing documents.
- Check re:SearchTX for available e-filed material, but treat a missing result as a reason to call the clerk.
- Request plain or certified copies and confirm the current charge, delivery method, and archive process before paying.
The re:SearchTX landing page shows the statewide electronic access point used for the secondary search.
Availability varies by court and user access, so a direct clerk check closes gaps that the statewide display cannot resolve.
| Search detail | Where used | Required | Why it helps |
|---|---|---|---|
| Account sign-in | re:SearchTX | Yes for access | Opens the platform under the user's access level |
| Full name | Clerk request | Primary route | Starts a local index search |
| Cause number | Clerk or platform | No, if unknown | Identifies the exact court and file |
| Approximate year | Clerk request | No | Narrows common names and archives |
| Charge or court | Clerk request | No | Routes the inquiry to the right docket |
Dimmit County Criminal Clerk Counters
For felony files, contact the District Clerk at 212 N. Fourth Street, Suite 202, Carrizo Springs, Texas 78834. The counter is open Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to noon and 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. Call 830-876-4243, extensions 1211 through 1214. The clerk identifies her office as custodian of every pleading and paper filed in district civil and criminal causes. Ask whether the Dimmit County record is in Local Government Solutions, on paper, archived, or available by email.
The District Clerk's official page confirms the office, hours, and court-record role.
The noon closure matters for anyone driving from Asherton, Big Wells, or elsewhere across this large South Texas county.
For county criminal cases, contact the County Clerk at 103 N. Fifth Street, Carrizo Springs, Texas 78834. Call 830-876-2323, choose option 5, then option 1 for Criminal and Probate. Email may be sent to countyclerk@dimmitcounty.org. No official plain-copy or certified-copy fee sheet was found, so ask for a cost before ordering.
The County Clerk's page supplies that direct routing.
That separate counter prevents a misdemeanor request from being misdirected to the felony clerk.
What the Case File Shows
A Dimmit County criminal case file records what the prosecutor filed and what the judge did. It may contain a complaint, information, or indictment, plus docket events, motions, hearing settings, pleas, bond orders, judgment, sentence, and costs. The docket is a dated index, not a substitute for the signed order. Request the charging paper and final judgment when the exact allegation and outcome matter.
| Cause Number and Court | Identifies the assigned Dimmit County court, filing year, and specific prosecution. |
|---|---|
| Charging Document | Shows the filed offense, statute, degree, and whether the accusation is a complaint, information, or indictment. |
| Docket Entries | Lists filings, settings, pleas, continuances, capias activity, judgment, and later case events. |
| Parties and Counsel | Names the State, defendant, defense counsel, and prosecutor when public. |
| Bond Orders | May state the bond amount, type, conditions, and surety information that is open. |
| Disposition and Sentence | States the outcome, date, confinement, fine, costs, or community supervision ordered by the court. |
Sensitive birth data, Social Security numbers, victim or minor information, and sealed material may be redacted. Certification comes from the clerk, not a portal screenshot.
Reading Dimmit County Criminal Dockets
A docket setting can be mistaken for an outcome when each term is not read in context. Look for the signed judgment or dismissal and its filing date. Deferred adjudication means supervision began without an initial judgment of guilt, while an acquittal is a not-guilty result. A no-bill means the grand jury declined to indict. None of those terms should be collapsed into the word conviction.
- Indictment
- A grand jury's formal felony accusation.
- Information
- A prosecutor-filed charging instrument often used for misdemeanors or a waived indictment.
- Disposition
- The final or current outcome assigned to a charge or case.
- Capias
- A court writ directing an arrest after a case event or failure to appear.
- Community supervision
- The Texas term commonly used for probation.
If a docket lists a plea or setting but no signed final order, ask the Dimmit County clerk whether a later paper has not yet appeared in the index.
Stages of a Criminal Case
A Texas prosecution can begin with arrest and magistration, followed by prosecutor review. An arrested person generally must be brought before a magistrate without unnecessary delay and no later than 48 hours under Code of Criminal Procedure Article 15.17. The charging path then differs. A complaint or information may support a misdemeanor, while a grand jury may return an indictment for a felony. Charges can change before the final Dimmit County judgment.
Case flow: Charges Filed › Arraignment › Pretrial › Plea or Trial › Disposition › Sentencing
The clerk's file documents each formal stage. The prosecutor's office makes charging decisions but is not the custodian for the clerk's case copy. The 293rd Judicial District Attorney page identifies the felony prosecutor serving the tri-county district.
Send a request for pleadings, the docket, or judgment to the clerk rather than to the prosecutor.
Dimmit County Fine-Only Case Routes
Not every Dimmit County criminal matter reaches the County or District Clerk. Justice courts keep fine-only cases and their bench-warrant records. JP Precincts 1 and 6 use Suite 204 at 212 N. Fourth Street and phone option 1. JP Precinct 2 uses the same building and option 2. JP Precinct 3 is at 1302 Grand Avenue in Big Wells and uses option 3. JP Precincts 4, 5, and 7 are at 1372 Cleveland Street in Asherton and use option 4. All route through 830-876-2323.
Start with the location of the citation or the issuing court shown on the paper. A fine-only JP file can include the complaint, docket, plea, judgment, payment events, or a capias. It will not replace a felony or Class A or B misdemeanor file. City citations may instead belong to a municipal court, so verify the court name before sending money or a record request.
Note: A justice-court warrant entry belongs with its issuing court even when the Sheriff may also confirm active status.
Access & Restrictions
Filed case records generally follow Texas court-access law and rules, not the Texas Public Information Act process used for law-enforcement records. Texas court rules and standards provide the judicial-record framework. Ask the appropriate clerk for a filed Dimmit County case record. A Sheriff's public-information request is not the right route for the court's indictment, docket, judgment, or sentence.
Public access has limits. Juvenile files, expunged records, sealed or nondisclosed history, protected victim data, complete sensitive birth information, Social Security numbers, and other confidential content may not be released. An online omission may reflect those rules, an older paper file, a recent filing, or the platform's access limits. It does not prove that no case exists.
For broader context on how court outcomes differ from booking allegations, the county's arrest history record path separates the two records without treating an arrest as guilt.
Dimmit County Case Copy Choices
Before ordering, decide whether a plain copy, certified copy, docket sheet, charging instrument, or final judgment answers the question. A plain copy may be enough for personal review. A certified copy bears the clerk's certification and is often requested when an official disposition must be shown. Dimmit County does not publish a current criminal-copy fee sheet, so do not assume a price from another Texas county.
Ask what can be sent by email, what must be picked up, how archived files are retrieved, and whether advance payment is needed. Give a cost cap if the request could produce many pages. For a case that changed charges, request both the filed accusation and final order. That pair shows the legal path far better than a name-search result. Keep the cause number on all follow-up messages so staff can locate the same Dimmit County criminal case without repeating the search.